Hyde Park Corner

[LOGAN 5]

Anybody else find crossing from the cycle path in Constitution Hill over the Wellington Arch middle bit and on over to Hyde Park a real pain?

Cyclists are held up at 4 sets of red lights in the space of 100m to cross this junction!

It's quicker to cycle round it which I do on dry bright days. Seen a growing number of cyclists doing this too.

Tfl should change the phasing of the lights so at least cyclists could get most of the way across and so encourage a smooth journey over the junction.

A transport planner I met once at a cycle show actually said they deliberately phased the lights this way to stop cyclists getting across both sides of the Wellington Arch section on a green phase. They obviously thought this was a reasonable thing to do but 4 times in 100m!

The return leg is just as bad with the last section across the left filter lane (the one Cameron was filmed crossing on a ped phase red) being really nasty as traffic speeds round this blind corner and cyclists are then also merging with the outside flow given they've already been stopped so many times on the earlier stages.

 

[joebe]

Just stick to the road as you tend to be quicker than most traffic round there.Plus the lights will tend to be in your favour

 

[skwerl]

Anybody else find crossing from the cycle path in Constitution Hill over the Wellington Arch middle bit and on over to Hyde Park a real pain?

Cyclists are held up at 4 sets of red lights in the space of 100m to cross this junction!

4 sets? 2 sets surely. One set at the top of const. hill and another set on the other side of the arch as you cross into the park.
My main beef is the time it takes for the park side lights to change and then they stay green fpr a nanosecond. i tend to go round with the traffic

 

[zimzum42]

Just ride the road, it's fun!

 

[BentMikey]

4 sets? 2 sets surely. One set at the top of const. hill and another set on the other side of the arch as you cross into the park.
My main beef is the time it takes for the park side lights to change and then they stay green fpr a nanosecond. i tend to go round with the traffic

It's four if you use the whole cycle route. Not that I do, I go around. Going through is not only slow, but bloody dangerous with all the nutters on bikes!

 

[CotterPin]

If you are in a hurry go round on the road. What is really scarey is seeing the number of cyclists trying to get directly into the park in the nanoseconds before the traffic from Knightsbridge starts moving again. That's a seriously dodgy gamble and I am surprised no-one has come unstuck there. Or have they?

 

[bof]

If you are in a hurry go round on the road. What is really scarey is seeing the number of cyclists trying to get directly into the park in the nanoseconds before the traffic from Knightsbridge starts moving again. That's a seriously dodgy gamble and I am surprised no-one has come unstuck there. Or have they?

You have about 10 seconds to get all the way across. Most of the time that is plenty. IMO the Hyde Park Corner bike route across the middle has only become problematic with the huge increase in fair weather cyclists. In February with 4/5 per phase using it, it was fine. I used to use it most of the time as I like going through the arch, but use the road now.

 

[LOGAN 5]

Riders cross in the nanoseconds before Knightsbridge traffic moves off because it's ridiculous to have to wait at the 4th set of light to get across that section. Most riders cross this way which I agree is dodgy as so many of the drivers jump the lights coming up round the junction which cuts the time to micro nanoseconds to get across.

10 seconds to get across - really? You'd have to be doing 25mph thru the Arch to achieve that. Too many people, dithering tourists and other riders not to mention probably going against the red cycle/ped light at the Constitution end which is a bit close to when the race track traffic roars off. i'll have to time how long it takes me to get across.

Irritating that cars get the priority traffic light flow but bikes get caught at each one on the cycle path crossing!

 

[BentMikey]

If you are in a hurry go round on the road. What is really scarey is seeing the number of cyclists trying to get directly into the park in the nanoseconds before the traffic from Knightsbridge starts moving again. That's a seriously dodgy gamble and I am surprised no-one has come unstuck there. Or have they?

There's rather a lot more time than that, it's not nearly so much of a gamble as you make it out to be. Only problem I've seen there if I'm leaving HPC via the cycle lane exit, and then want to go straight on towards Piccadilly in order to go around the roundabout, then those cutting straight across and I have a potential for conflict.

 

[bof]

10 seconds to get across - really?

Yes, really, and have done it hundreds of times, even allowing for the cars who run the red on the roundabout - only needed to stop by the island 3-4 times because someone was so late through red.

Now the other way round - when the Knightsbridge lane stops and the roundabout starts - that needs careful "timing"!